The present invention relates to a robot apparatus and control method for the same, and more particularly, is suitably applied to a pet robot.
In recent years, a walking type pet robot with four legs which acts according to commands from a user and the surrounding environments has been proposed and developed by the assignee of this invention. Such pet robot looks like a dog or a cat which is kept in a general house and autonomously acts according to commands from a user and the surrounding environments. It should be noted that the word xe2x80x9cbehaviorxe2x80x9d is used for indicating a group of actions hereinafter.
If such pet robot has a function of adapting the life rhythm of the pet robot to the life rhythm of a user, the pet robot can be considered to have a further improved amusement property and as a result, the user will get a larger sense of affinity and satisfaction.
The present invention is made in view of the above points and intends to a robot apparatus and a control method for the same which can offer an improved amusement property.
The foregoing object and other objects of the invention have been achieved by the provision of a robot apparatus and a control method for the same, in which a history of user use is created in a temporal axis direction and is stored in a storage means and next behavior is determined based on the history of use. As a result, in the robot apparatus and control method for the same, life rhythm of the robot apparatus can be adapted to the life rhythm of the user, thus making it possible to realize a robot apparatus having a further improved entertainment property and a control method for the same so that a user can get a larger sense of affinity out of the robot.
Further, in the robot apparatus and control method for the same of the present invention, behavior of the robot apparatus is determined based on a cycle parameters which allows behavior of the robot apparatus to have a cyclic tendency for each prescribed time period, and each part of the robot apparatus is driven based on the determined behavior. As a result, in the robot apparatus and control method for the same, the life rhythm of the robot apparatus can be adapted to the life rhythm of the user, thus making it possible to realize a robot apparatus having a further improved entertainment property and a control method for the same so that a user can get a larger sense of affinity.
Furthermore, in the robot apparatus and control method for the same of the present invention, an external stimulus which is detected by a prescribed external stimulus detecting means is evaluated to judge whether the stimulus was from a user, the external stimulus from the user is converted into a predetermined numerical parameter and behavior is determined based on the parameter, and then each part of the robot apparatus is driven based on the determined behavior. As a result, in the robot apparatus and control method for the same, the life rhythm of the robot apparatus can be adapted to the life rhythm of the user, thus making it possible to realize a robot apparatus having a further improved entertainment property and a control method for the same so that a user can get a larger sense of affinity.